If I Fall
by the8thweasley
Summary: James has always loved Lily, but Lily has always loathed him. How will James finally make Lily realize they are perfect for each other? This is my telling of how James and Lily got together. One chapter per year until 6th year, then it slows down. Canon.
1. Year One

**A/N~Wow I can't believe I'm doing this once again, but I promise this is the last time that I redo this story for a while. I kept trying to write chapter 9 and I just couldn't get the inspiration, I went through and read my old chapters and I realized how much this story sucked so I'm redoing it! Please don't hate me!**

***Change from the last version: The story will now start in first year and it will skate over the first few years until sixth year, which is when the pace will slow down. The story is also no longer in first person. Sorry for the long AN! **

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not, nor will it ever be mine. All rights go to J.K. Rowling.**

**()()()**

"Sev, wait up!" Lily squealed as she chased after the short, dark-haired boy.

"It's only a little farther..." Severus Snape trailed off, entering the small clearing.

The clearing was big enough to hold ten people lined up shoulder-to-shoulder. A ceiling of vibrant leaves allowed rays of sunlight to sift through-casting a greenish glow on everything. The ground was dirt—patted down smooth by years of people lying on it.

Lily gasped, "Sev, it's beautiful..."

A flash of pride soared across his face and he grabbed the young red-heads hand and led her into the middle.

"This is where I go to escape..."

"Your dad?" Lily finished empathetically. Even at the age of eleven she had a way of understanding people.

The young boy just shrugged and looked up to the balcony of leaves, plopping down on the hard ground and pulling a giggling Lily Evans down with him.

He spotted a small twig on the ground and made it dance across the clearing to the great amusement of Lily.

"Sev..."

The boy's curtain of greasy hair swung as he turned his head to look at the worried expression on his best friend's face.

"You promise it will be like this at Hogwarts? No one will...will-"

"You won't be any different because you are muggleborn. And if anyone tries to tell you any differently then I will...well I don't know what I'd do but it will be bad!"

Lily smiled up at him—green eyes shining with gratitude and happiness.

"Thanks Sev...I-" but whatever she was going to say was cut off as she saw the leaves out of the corner of her eye rustle and shift.

Severus heard it too and stood up, standing slightly in front of Lily and staring directly at the spot that had just emitted a squeak and a thump.

"Tunie?" Lily asked, sounding confused as the older girl stood up and brushed off her dress.

"It's dinner time," she said stiffly, glaring at the sallow faced boy next to her little sister.

"Why were you listening to our conversation?" Snape asked in an accusatory tone.

"Sev," Lily said quietly, shaking her head at him.

"Why would I spy on you two?" Petunia sputtered.

"Because you're jealous," Severus answered.

A look of disbelief flooded across Petunia's face and she visibly took a step back.

"Why would I be jealous of you two—two freaks!"

Snape's astonished face was nothing like Lily's, which had been washed of all emotions except for a small tear, forming in the corner of her eye.

"You shouldn't be hanging around with someone like him," Petunia said icily, stepping forward and grabbing her younger sister's arm. "He is putting bad ideas into your head. You know what people say about his family: crazy the lot of them." She started pulling Lily towards the small space between two oak trees that formed the entrance to the small sanctuary. "Anyways it's dinner time and you know Mum hates it when we are late, and you _must_ wash; look at your hands, they're filthy." Petunia continued on, dragging a confused Lily behind her, who shot Severus an apologetic look and a shrug of the shoulders, as if to say _she's my sister, what do you want me to do?_

"Tunie what's going on?" Lily asked angrily, skidding to a halt as she stopped moving but carried on with Petunia's momentum.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," Lily said forcefully, "why were you listening to mine and Sev's conversation? And why do you hate him so much? And why did you call us freaks? That was mean Tunie, and I want you to apologize to him tomorrow!"

Petunia stood watching in disbelief as her eleven year old sister rattled on, calling her out on all the unacceptable things she had done.

"I was _not_ eavesdropping, I just happened to hear some of your conversation," Petunia said bitterly, "and he is a bad influence—he keeps filling your head with all these lies! I'm sorry I called you a freak, I didn't mean it—not to you at least, but I most certainly will not apologize to that boy!"

"Well 'that boy'_,_ as you call him, is my best friend and the only person who I have met who understands what it is like to be me! So don't go insulting him or his family."

Lily's fiery temper had finally surpassed her age and although she was only an angry eleven year old, she spoke with as much maturity as any adult.

"It's dinner time," Petunia finished coldly, devoid of all emotions. She began walking away, over the hill and towards the small, modest house the Evans' called home.

"Tunie please..." Lily shouted after her sister, but it was too late.

Their relationship had cracked, something had shifted, and although it would seem minuscule to some, it would change their lives forever. Lily was a witch, ready to embark on a journey into a magical world where she would meet new people and strange creatures, and Petunia was stuck in the nonmagical world, with the same old muggles and the same old things.

**()()()**

"You know Mum," James Potter said while shoveling his breakfast into his tiny, fast-moving mouth, "I'm going to be Quidditch captain. No doubt about it, really. Grades and scores aren't really that important. Dad says I can too—be Quidditch captain, I mean. As long as I try hard, he says. I don't really believe that though—trying that is, I'm good at Quidditch, everyone says. Don't you think?"

Mrs. Potter looked across the table at her eleven year old, vibrant, son that, although he never sounded it, truly had a good heart. She smiled and nodded because she hadn't been able to understand a single sentence in his rapid quick-fire way of talking. She got up and brushed back a few wisps of gray streaked hair hanging in her eyes. Her eyes that despite the fact that she was older than normal moms with eleven year old sons, still shone with youth and delight.

"Mum you know what should be coming today? Do you know? You probably do because I told Dad yesterday and you and him always talk about everything. But guess anyways—go on guess what comes today!" And without pausing to let Mrs. Potter get a word in, James continued. "I'll give you a hint! It comes via owl, but so does everything we get, doesn't it? Well it will change my life—or at least that's what dad says. Maybe you don't know...should I give you another hint? Hmm...let's see, what won't give it away? Aha! It's a letter—a really important one at that!...Can you guess now? If not I can't call you my Mum. That's what dad always says to me...except of course he says son not mum..." James trailed off and looked up at his mother, a wide lopsided grin plastered on his face, but then again when wasn't the boy smiling?

"I'd have to say it was your Hogwarts Acceptance Letter."

"How did you know? Was it my last hint? It probably was! I knew I shouldn't have said that...ahhh well—what can I do now? Do you think it will be here soon? I hope it will...Dad says they usually come early in the day so that people don't have to wait around worrying. But I'm not worried! No sir! I know I'll get in—I _have_ to get it. But don't worry about it, I already know I'm a wizard. Last week I turned Emma Pernell's hair green—don't worry, Mum, it wasn't on purpose! Dad says young witches and wizards often do magic they can't control. It's exciting isn't it? Oooh! Look there! That's an owl, isn't it? I can't really tell...can you? I'll go check!" James jumped down from the chair he had been sitting on and sprinted outside, shouting indecipherable words all the way.

Mrs. Potter shook her head and smiled at the spot where her whirlwind of a son had just been sitting.

"I GOT IT!" James shrieked from outside, jumping around with limitless energy. "I'm going to Hogwarts, I'm going to Hogwarts!" he sang loudly, and Mrs. Potter thanked her lucky stars that they didn't have any neighbors that lived close to them.

"So did he get in?" Mr. Potter asked, entering the room fully dressed and ready to go to work.

"See for yourself," Mrs. Potter said, nodding to the window that still showed James jumping up and down, singing.

The Potters chuckled at their son, who for the age of eleven, had yet to grow taller than an average nine year old girl.

James raced back in and grabbed a piece of toast off the table before running out again, shouting a muffled response about going over to the Pernell's house to brag to Emma about getting in.

"I wonder if he realizes that she is a witch too, therefore, she has also gotten in," Mrs. Potter contemplated.

"I don't think James really thinks like that," Mr. Potter offered. "You know his cockiness gets the better of him sometimes."

"Yes, it gets the best of him most of the time," Mrs. Potter sighed, wishing that when James got to Hogwarts and met more children his age his ego would deflate a little and he would be able to show everyone what a great person he really was.

**()()()**

"I wish we had been sorted into the same house," Lily said sadly, walking down the corridor to Charms, the only class the first year Gryffindors had with Slytherins.

"But I'm glad I'm in Slytherin!" Snape said thoughtfully. "I think it's the right place for me."

It was only two weeks into their first term but already the two best friends had a strain on their relationship. Lily, being bright and bubbly, had been quick to make friends with the girls in her dorm. With Severus it had been different. People picked on him for his long hair, faded robes, and from the Slytherins: non-wholly magical background. He had managed to gain a friend. A second year called Mulciber, but the boy already had a best friend—Avery—and they often played cruel tricks on Snape that he passed off as jokes, but Lily saw to be rude pranks.

Even Mulciber and Avery couldn't compete with James Potter and his cronies, though. Although it was only two weeks into the year, the Marauders (as they liked to call themselves) had already set a reputation as bad as Lily's was good. They thought it to be vital to remain the top dogs (as far as first years go, of course) and they would stop at nothing to pull any sort of prank.

The Slytherin and Gryffindor continued their conversation as they entered the classroom and took two seats in the front row.

"I really think Gryffindor is suited for me, although I do think I could have fitted into Ravenclaw, and I would have loved to be in Slytherin with you, but-"

However, Lily was cut off when the short, bespectacled boy behind her let out a derisive snort.

"You want to be a slimy Slytherin, Evans? Why? Because you want to be with _him_?" James Potter talked about Severus just like Petunia had, like he was the scum of the Earth.

"What's it to you if I did, Potter?"

"Well, then you're not a true Gryffindor! No respectable Gryffindor would ever even be considered to be a Slytherin."

Lily turned up her nose and looked away, however much James was annoying her she knew it was best to avoid fights, especially with someone that everybody seemed to love.

"Oh, are you just going to turn into prissy Evans now? Well nobody likes you, probably not even your little _boyfriend!_!"

Lily's face turned red with fury as she spun around in her seat, trying to pull words out of the angry jumble that was her brain at the moment.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Lily hissed, not even bothering to look at the hurt expression on Snape's face.

"Touchy subject, I see..."

"Merlin, James Potter you are a bully! A privileged bully!"

"Well you, Lily Evans, are a stuck up cow!"

**()()()**

"I'm sorry he's been so awful to you Sev, it's all my fault," Lily confessed, sounding close to tears. "I never should have insulted him, I knew he would need to get even."

It was a month after the fight between Lily and James in Charms class, but Severus was the one who was still being tortured for it.

"It's not you're fault, Lils. Please don't blame yourself," Sev said, and although he had no fault in the matter, he still sounded guilty. "Don't cry, please. Not because of _him._ He's not worth your tears."

"It's just not fair!" Lily hissed, rapidly changing her emotion from sadness to anger. "Why is he so mean? Especially to you, you did absolutely nothing to him, Sev."

Snape shrugged and shuffled his feet, not sure what to do with Lily's quickly changing emotions.

"Emma, my roommate—she's the one you met, remember? Well, she says he's not so bad, you just have to get used to his selfishness. Apparently their family's are really close, but I think it's all a lie. If he's such a nice person, why can't he treat everyone equally? That's how it should be! He just gets me so mad!" Lily fumed.

"You shouldn't waste your energy on him, bullies feed off of knowing that they are causing pain to others. Just don't let it bother you..." Severus trailed off as he thought of his experiences with his father back home, but quickly came back to the present. "...Don't worry about me, I know how to handle a bully. Potter is _not_ a threat. He's all talk, that's it."

Lily smiled a little as Snape reassured her, but the guilty feeling in her stomach still hadn't subsided by the time the sun had set behind the Forbidden Forest, and the wind had picked up and began cooling off the grounds.

"We should go inside, it's getting cold now," Snape observed.

Lily nodded and gathered up her things, but she was still preoccupied with the James issue. As she watched her friend struggle awkwardly with all his belongings she wished it was easier for him to get along with people and make friends, maybe then there wouldn't be such an issue with James. But she erased that thought from her mind quickly, James was the problem, not Severus, and so she vowed to protect him then. From Potter and any other bullies who didn't see the true side of Severus Snape.

Nobody would treat her best friend like that—not if she could do something about it.

**()()()**

By Christmas time Lily had made strong bonds with the girls in her dorm. She found that, despite her friendship with James, the girl Emma was actually quite sweet. Soon after they became friends they started doing everything together: sitting together in classes, talking in the dorm, even (occasionally) making fun of James, but there was something missing. It wasn't that they didn't get along, it was that they weren't completed yet.

The two of them were so sweet, and innocent that they hated their roommate Mary Macdonald straight away. The girl was loud and a bit too extroverted to be considered friendly. She was constantly talking, and frankly, her laugh got on everyone's nerves. But there was something charming about her, something that grew on everybody who spent time with her. You couldn't help but realize that her laugh was cute in a way, and she wasn't really that loud, just trying to be noticed (she had grown up with five other siblings, what do you expect?) And maybe it was just the infectious holiday spirit, but the two girls decided to befriend her.

"Mary, would you like to play Exploding Snaps with us?" Lily asked cautiously, staring at the girl with the big doe eyes.

"Oh! I'd love to! But are you sure there's room for me?"

"It's just the two of us playing," Emma added sweetly, peeking out from where she was hidden sitting next to Lily on the sofa in the common room.

"Brilliant! But I must warn you...I am pretty awesome at it," she let out one of her telltale snorts and for once it didn't make Lily and Emma cringe and want to run away.

Over on the other side of the common room was a group of four boys, huddled around a stack of notes that were definitely not school related.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Peter Pettigrew asked. He was the smallest of the boys with his bantam, clear, blue eyes and persistent baby pudge that clung to his stomach.

"Of course it's safe, no need to worry," James said smoothly. Although Peter was the shortest of the boys, James was probably only a centimeter taller. Despite his height, he managed to carry himself with an air of somebody taller and better, so that people often forgot his stunted growth.

"I still think we should have gone with the first option," Sirius Black said, looking a bit dejected as he looked down at the first plan. Black reaped the image of growing up in luxury: he had a healthy glow about him, and his luxurious, long, dark, brown locks of hair were envied by most of the girls at Hogwarts.

"The first one broke about every single school rule!" Remus Lupin cut in as James looked like he was about to revert back to the original plan.

"But that's the point," Sirius whined. "We want to break school rules! We're the _Marauders_ for Merlin's sake!"

"I'm still not sure about the group name..." Remus added doubtfully. For once the young, sandy haired boy hadn't been excluded from boys his age because he was different. Of course they still didn't know he was a werewolf, but he was accepted by them nonetheless and he wasn't going to ruin that by disagreeing to strongly with something they decided on.

"If we want to be known then we need a name to be remembered by! It can't just be _'oh you know...those boys that pulled a lot of pranks...you know the ones I'm talking about! No! Not _those_ ones, the _other_ ones! Yes! Yes! I think we are talking about the same boys now!'_ See! With a name like the Marauders we are unforgettable. We'll go down in history, or something like that! We'll-"

But the boys had lost interest in what James was spewing out this time and they went on talking without him, leaving him in his own world where all he could hear was his own voice—just the way he liked it.

"What are you doing for Christmas?" Peter asked Sirius and Remus.

"Staying at Hogwarts," Sirius stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I can't imagine going back to my house yet...definitely not before the summer, and even then I know my family won't have cooled off about the whole _'my son's in Gryffindor, what a disgrace!'_ thing."

Peter nodded sympathetically and turned to Remus. "What about you?"

"Staying here too, my mum isn't feeling well at the moment and she thinks it would be best to wait until Easter Break to visit."

It was Remus Lupin's go-to excuse to say that his mother was sick but he couldn't admit that he was staying at Hogwarts because two days after Christmas it was a full moon, and he couldn't bear to see his parents deal with a transformation again. Not after they had finally gotten rid of him.

"What are you doing, Pete?" Remus asked.

"Going home, my mum always makes the most amazing Christmas dinner. Probably even better than the house elves do, so I can't miss that. What about you James?" Peter asked, prodding James hard in the side to get his attention.

"OUCH!" James shouted. "What was that for?"

"You weren't paying attention," Sirius answered for Peter.

"To what?"

"Our conversation...Christmas plans..." at James's blank face Peter whistled. "Wow, you really were out of it."

"Well I'm going home, my family always does dinner with Emma's. Great fun really. Maybe next year you guys can come! I'll ask my mum when I go home. I'm sure she'd love to have you. She loves entertaining guests. Don't really know why, dad says it's a women thing and I shouldn't expect to understand their mad brains. They are quite mad, aren't they? What do you..."

But the three other first year boys had stopped listening to James's long-winded dialogue and had instead, started a game of Wizard's Chess: Sirius vs. Peter.

**()()()**

When the end of year exams finally came around Lily decided that she would much rather take a thousand Transfiguration practical exams than have to go back home for the summer.

"It will be fun! It's summer, it's hot, and we can write to each other!" Mary said, trying to brighten Lily's dampened spirits.

"You can come visit whenever you want! As long as you give a little warning so I can tell my family," Emma added, smiling at the gloomy expression on Lily's face.

"Petunia can't be _that _bad..." but Mary stopped talking as the look on Lily's face darkened. "Well you can visit me too. You can just switch off between our houses! It'll be fun, I promise."

"I have to stay home, I promised Sev I wouldn't leave him this summer."

When Lily took one last sweeping look of the dormitory to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything, she missed the scrunched up faces her two friends made at the mention of Severus.

"You can't promise him the whole summer, we're your friends too," Emma said reasonably.

"Yeah! He can't expect that of you!"

"I'll miss you guys," Lily said, a little tearfully.

"We'll miss you too," they chorused, and the three girls left their dormitory, chattering a bit more vividly than before.

**()()()**

"Hey, let's go bother Evans!" James offered cheerfully as the four boys sat, bored, and waiting for the food trolley to come around.

"Don't you do that enough without trying?" Sirius asked, rubbing his stomach as it rumbled with hunger.

"You just ate breakfast!" Remus exclaimed at the same time James let out an annoyed "Hey, she deserves it!"

"You know...we never really pulled as many pranks as we said we would. We still have a huge lists of ones we have to do!" Peter said.

"We do have six more years at Hogwarts," Remus said, half excitedly and the other half: _why am I friends with these rule-breaking goons? _

"And don't worry, we'll do them all!" James whispered in a stimulated voice as a Prefect passed by their compartment.

"Of course!" Sirius scoffed.

"That's a lot of pranks..." Peter said in awe.

"It's going to be a crazy six years," Remus noted.

And the three other boys nodded in agreement, while in the next compartment over, Lily Evans nodded to something that one of her friends had just said.


	2. Year Two

**AN~Thank you so much to Spottedpelt43 and BlueSkies13 and also to anybody who favorited/alerted me or my story—it really means a lot!**

**Also I am extremely pleased to say that I got onto Pottermore! Say hello to an extremely sleep deprived (and very tired of waiting) SparksSky93...who else has registered too?**

**Disclaimer: Everything is J.K. Rowling's.**

**()()()**

Twelve year old James wasn't much taller than eleven year old James was. He wasn't much smarter, or even much cleverer. He didn't talk any slower or less frequently than before and he most certainly wasn't any more mature, but there was something different about him. Possibly it was the way he carried himself—like he owned the school at the young age of twelve. Or maybe it was his school robes that made him seem different—they were after all three sizes too large (he thought he would have grown into them by now), and they dragged on the ground for at least a foot behind him.

Severus Snape's appearance, however, had changed greatly. If possible he looked even more sallow-faced and under fed than before, and his stringy, black, hair had reached a new record of length. He had the same hooked nose (that would never change), but he had a new spring in himself. Almost like he had received a boost of confidence over the summer, maybe from constantly spending time with his best friend Lily Evans?

The two boys couldn't have had more opposite summers. While James spent his days on a broomstick, practicing Quidditch so he would be ready when he was finally allowed to try out for the Gryffindor team, Snape had spent his burying his nose in the summer homework and books that were so old their spines were nearly nonexistent.

Lily Evans had seen them both—James only shortly and with as much hostility towards him as the year before. She had been staying at her friend Emma's house for a weekend and unfortunately had run into him on the large hill that separated their two houses—or rather manors.

_"Hey Ems!" little, squeaky James shouted, panting as he ran up the side of the hill to reach his childhood friend. "Oh you're here."_

_ That's what set Lily off. _

_ "Oh you're here."_

_ Who says that? She thought as she stared at James, disbelievingly._

_ "I'm not exactly pleased to see you either," Lily said stonily, yet diplomatically. _

_ James just made a face and hugged Emma._

_ "Ew, you're sweaty!" Emma squealed, pushing James away with a look of disgust on her face._

_ "I was just practicing Quidditch. I think I'm going to make the Quidditch team this year. No not think. I know I will make it, I mean why wouldn't I? I'm the best twelve year old Quidditch player since...since ever! Are you going to try out? You've played Quidditch with me before! You should! It would be loads of fun...But you're probably too intimidated. You've seen me play before."_

_ "James...shut up!" Emma whined, shaking her head while Lily smirked at the shocked look on James's face, who looked completely surprised that anyone wouldn't want to hear his voice. __"And no. I won't be trying out for Quidditch. And not because I'm too intimidated by you" Emma interjected quickly, when James looked like he was going to say something __slightly obnoxious. _

_ "Fine," James said, actually sounding disappointed. "You and Evans can have fun doing loser things, while I do fun things—like Quidditch!" And with that he stormed off, back down the hill and towards his house, muttering nonsensical things._

_ "He's such a—a git!" Lily said sourly, gazing at Emma's hurt face and wondering why she was ever friends with him._

_ "He's not usually like that—he just sometimes puts his foot in his mouth. Well, he does that a lot, actually."_

_ "So why are you friends with him, Em?"_

_ "I told you, he's really not that bad. Plus our families are old friends, but really he's not _always_ bad. Just most of the time. Especially around you..." Emma trailed off, thoughtfully, while Lily rolled her eyes._

_ "I'm sure it's only me that he acts like a jerk around. That seems legitimate."_

_ "It's not like that! I know he can be rude sometimes, and he's extremely immature, but there's something there. I don't know...Maybe it's because I've known him for so long. I feel like I need to defend him or something."_

_ "Well you don't, and especially not to me. I hate him, and I barely know him! He's a bully, a good for nothing bully."_

_ "Maybe..." Emma said, slightly surprised by the ferocity in her friends voice. _

_ "No matter," Lily said, sounding a bit abashed, "let's just have our picnic, yes?"_

_ The small frizzy haired girl nodded in agreement and the two of them sat down and enjoyed the hot summer day, forgetting completely about their run-in with James Potter. _

**()()()**

It was a few months into their second year and Lily and James already hated each other more than they had the year before. James had made it onto the Quidditch team, and in doing so, had made him even cockier than before. He seemed to think he was a god or something, considering himself to be invincible.

While James excelled at Quidditch, Lily pushed herself even harder in classes. She was the top in every class, except potions, where she shared the title with Snape, and much to her annoyance, Transfiguration, where James always seemed to be doing _that_ much better.

"Oi, Evans!" the familiar, prepubescent, male, voice shouted.

"What do you want, Potter?" Lily groaned, turning around halfway down the corridor and stopping, letting everyone else push past her to get to dinner. She didn't even know why she had stopped, probably because she knew it was better to hear whatever rumor James had conjured about her from the source rather than somebody else.

"I heard that you and Snape are going steady now? Is it true, or is it true?" James asked obnoxiously, a devilish smile playing on his lips. His favorite subjects of the rumors he created were—of course—Lily and Severus, and he never ran out of falsehoods.

"Don't be ridiculous, Potter. I know you just made that up and I'm not going to let you get to me."

"Oooh, Lily Evans with a backbone. This could get dangerous," James teased. He constantly pestered her and told her she was weak. Lily Evans clearly didn't take nonsense from anyone and she always stood up for herself.

"Just stop!" Lily shrieked, her face burning bright and her hands in tight fists. "I hate you! I hate you! I hate you! James Potter leave me alone, and if you don't I'll go to Professor Mcgonagall!"

"Aw, going to tattle on me? Evans is a tattle-tale, Evans is a tattle-tale," James ran off down the corridor, singing at the top of his lungs, creating a rather big ruckus.

Lily let out a great sigh of annoyance, and was about to continue walking to the Great Hall when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Lily? Right?" It was a lanky boy talking, who had the appearance of growing more physically then he could keep up with mentally and hunched a little, as if trying to obtain his former, shorter height. Lily vaguely recognized him as one of James Potter's cronies

"Yeah, you're Remus, aren't you?" Lily asked, peering into his tired eyes and wondering what could possibly have this boy looking so defeated.

He nodded quickly, almost seeming embarrassed at being recognized.

"I'm sorry about what James said. I don't think he means it."

"_You_ don't think?" Lily snorted derisively, putting an extra emphasis on the "you". She changed her attitude immediately at the look on the poor Lupin boy's face.

"He just thinks he's cool for doing things like that, his view of the world isn't exactly what you'd call balanced," Remus explained quietly. He seemed to do most things quietly when not in the presence of his friends, almost like he thought he was constantly being judged.

"That's a nice way of saying he's rude and obnoxious and thinks the world is his to control."

Remus nodded almost imperceptibly, but continued in half defense of James. "I know he's mean to you and your friend Severus, but he's really..." he trailed off as he tried to find a word that accurately described what James Potter really was.

"You know...I'm sick of all of these people sticking up for him! Until he proves to _me_ how great everyone says he is I won't believe it. I'm waiting for someone to stick up for me to him so he will finally leave me alone," Lily said angrily.

"I don't think that would help," Remus said sadly, almost like he regretted his friend's ability to put Lily down like he did.

"Hey! Remus! Are you coming?" Peter Pettigrew asked as he walked past the two conversing in the middle of the corridor.

"Yeah, I'll be there in a second," he answered, waving his hand absentmindedly in Peter's direction.

"You can go," Lily whispered, looking visibly upset and like she needed to be alone.

"I'm really sorry, Lily."

"I know," she said quietly as Remus walked away, joining Peter and the few other stragglers making their way down to the Great Hall.

Lily didn't go to dinner that night.

**()()()**

"Hey Sev, are you going to the Quidditch game on Sunday?" Lily asked, peering at her best friend over her cauldron in potions class one Friday afternoon.

"Why would I?" he asked, confused.

"It's Slytherin vs. Gryffindor, everyone seems to think it's a really big deal. I was only wondering..."

"Well, are you going?" Snape asked, sounding slightly accusatory.

"Yeah, I think I might."

"Why? The only second year on the Gryffindor team is Potter, and why would you go to support him?"

"It's not about individual players, it's about house spirit. You must have some!" Lily said, sounding chipper despite the looming argument Severus was about to cause.

"You're going because of him, aren't you?" he asked, letting his biggest insecurity of losing Lily shine through his tough exterior.

"_No_," Lily said, angrily. "You know I hate him as much as you do, Sev. Why are you even bringing Potter up?"

"Because he's the reason you're going to the match on Sunday!"

"Evans you're going to the match? For me? I'm flattered!" James shouted from a few cauldrons over, where he had clearly been eavesdropping on their whole conversation.

Lily glared at Severus before turning towards James.

"Don't be stupid," she said, bitingly. "Of course I'm not going for you, it's called Gryffindor Pride, not Potter Pride, which you clearly believe it's all about. If you deflated your head a little and saw every other person walking on the Earth with you, you might think differently about how you view yourself."

Snape looked like he was deciding between clapping and sending a smug grin in the direction of Potter, in the end he didn't have time to do either as the bell rang.

"Lils, that was amazing! You left him speechless!" he said, looking back at the gaping mouth of the motionless James Potter.

"He'll be back for retaliation," Lily said. She knew by this point that if she got the better of James he would come back with a vengeance, and not rest until he beat her better and in a meaner way.

"I'm sorry I caused this," Snape said, genuinely. His formerly happy self deflating back to his normal brooding and self-loathing.

"It's fine," Lily said, and sadly she truly meant it. She couldn't help being a pushover when it came to Severus.

**()()()**

"LILY WAKE UP!" Mary MacDonald shrieked from where she was standing on her bed.

"Whaa-?" a groggy Lily asked, but was soon up and screaming too as she noticed the hundreds of little black spiders surrounding her bed.

"What's happening?" Emma asked, trying to take in her surroundings while she was still partially in dream land.

"THERE ARE SPIDERS ALL AROUND MY BED!"

"WHY ARE THEY HERE?" Mary screeched, not really expecting an answer.

"MERLIN, THERE ARE MORE COMING FROM UNDER THE DOOR!" Emma joined in on the shrieking, pointing towards the door that led to the common room below.

"Lily jump over to my bed," Emma said, after she took a few moments to calm herself, and beckoned for Lily to come over.

Lily moved tentatively across her bed, as if the spiders would suddenly launch an attack on her.

"Lily...don't freak out...but they're following you," Mary whispered, as if that made it any better. And she was right, as soon as Lily shifted to the right of her bed and made to jump to Emma's, the spiders had moved in the same direction.

"Just try jumping," Emma said, although not sounding convinced that their former plan would work.

Lily sprang to Emma's bed, but as soon as she did the spiders scuttled to surround Emma's bed.

"AGH! GO BACK TO YOUR BED!" Emma shrieked.

Lily obeyed, but reluctantly because she knew that even if she hopped back and forth for an hour the spiders would follow her religiously.

"They must be under some enchantment," Mary said, being the logical one for once.

"But who would do this?" Emma asked, perplexed.

"James Potter," Lily growled as the obviousness of the situation hit her.

And down below in the common room, the same boy was howling with laughter with Sirius, Remus, and Peter, imagining what the girls' reactions would be.

"That-must-be-priceless-" Sirius gasped.

"I wish we could have seen it," Peter said, snorting a little with laughter.

"I admit, it was pretty genius of you, James," Remus said, waving an imaginary hat in James's direction.

"Thank you, thank you! It was one of my better ideas," James said, no modesty detected in his voice.

"How are they going to get downstairs?" Peter asked.

"Who cares!" Sirius guffawed, picturing what the girl's faces must look like.

"We didn't think of that..." Remus said, wishing he had looked more carefully at the prank plan, and beginning to feel sorry for the three girls stuck in their dormitory.

"Sirius is right! It doesn't matter!" James shouted with joy. "I have successfully gotten my revenge on Evans. Life is good!"

"But doesn't that mean she'll only try to get you back even better?" Peter asked.

"I don't think so..." Remus said, remembering how Lily looked after their conversation a few weeks ago. "I think she just wants to be peaceful about it...maybe you should consider that James."

"Psh! Why would he do that?" Sirius asked, laughing out loud again at the absurdity of Remus's suggestion.

"Yeah...I'm winning, why would I stop? I mean she has no chance of winning now. I'm just too good! Plus she'll probably be stuck up in that dormitory until she dies. I don't know how she's gonna get out! Ha! We _soooo_ got her. That should show her not to yell at me!"

The four boys erupted into laughter again, Remus a bit more tentatively than the rest, at the idea of the girls battling those spiders for eternity.

"It's too great...I don't know how we are going to top that!" Sirius said, shaking with mirth.

"We'll find a way..." James said, mischievously.

**()()()**

It was a month before the end of term and although the three, second year Gryffindor girls should have been paying attention in Charms (they were revising for final exams) they were instead passing notes while pretending to have mild interest in the class.

_Lils, you really shouldn't try to get back at him this time. You know how well it went last time, after the spider prank.-Emma_

Why shouldn't I? I'm not going to let him think that he can just walk all over me! It's not like I prank him back...that would be stupid. I just point out all of his flaws—there's nothing wrong with that!-Lily

**Lily has a point! She should be able to stand up for herself.-Mary**

_Yes, I know! But if he just keeps retaliating with worse and worse pranks, it's not going to end well for Lily. Remember when you used to want to take a peaceful approach? __Can't you just go back to wanting that?_

Not if he keeps treating me like this! He should know what a jerk he is! Right, Mary? You agree, don't you?

**Definitely! He needs to be put in his place, and if words are the only way to ****do that then you yell at him!**

_But that doesn't work! That's what I'm trying to say. If you just ignore him, he'll probably stop._

You know I've tried that...and did it work? No. I'm sorry that you don't agree with me Em but I can't just let him keep doing this to me.

_But he's definitely going to keep doing it to you if you keep yelling at him for it. You know he's just looking for a reaction. Isn't that what you always say about bullies Lils?_

**She also has a point, Lily...**

Maybe it will just die down over the summer?

**Hah. That's likely.**

_Mary!_

_ I hope so Lils...I hope..._

Me too.

**()()()**

It was a normal train ride home that year. No unwanted visits from Potter, no worries about the summer to think about. Lily had already decided that it was going to be a great summer. She would spend a lot of it with Sev—she hadn't really hung out with him as much as she wanted during the year, and she didn't want them to grow apart because of it. She also already knew she was going to visit Emma for a week (but hopefully not run into Potter again) and then her and Emma were going to go to Mary's the week before term started again and spend the week at her summer house.

It couldn't be more perfect. Hopefully.

James had the same view of the approaching summer break. Sirius and Peter were coming to visit during the third week of summer, but Remus apparently had a family gathering for the three days that the other two boys were staying and he couldn't make it. It was unfortunate, but it wasn't the first weird excuse the boys had heard from Remus. For the time being they didn't take it to mean anything, but gears were already turning in James's head and he had a feeling that Remus could tell.

**A/N~Please review and leave a comment, opinion, criticism, critique, or even just to say your Pottermore name! Reviews really mean the world to me!**


	3. Year Three Part One

**A/N~Thank you so much to ShootinStar(unfortunately the Magical Quill thing is over but you can still register in October...also you need an e-mail for Pottermore, I'm really sorry I couldn't make you one! Also you don't get to choose you're username), In Love With Prongs, EmilyLupin77, BlueSkies13, and myrrhanda! Your reviews meant the world to me! Also thank you to anyone who favorites or alerted, I appreciate it a lot!**

**Also thank you so much to my beautiful betas Hannah and Halle who stayed up all night with me and had a sleepover over the computer so we could all edit each others writing. Check out their stories, their names are: Pottergirl1130 and HarryPotterfanforeverr123  
**

**Disclaimer: Clearly Harry Potter isn't mine...**

**()()()**

"James! James! Over here!" Little Peter squeaked from his spot in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room.

James shuffled over, covered from head to toe in mud and soggy Quidditch attire. He had just returned from his very first Quidditch practice of the season and he was in no mood to be accosted by his over-exhilarated mates. His scowl was extremely visible as he approached the three waiting Marauders, whose grins faded to frowns of concern and annoyance.

"What's wrong?" Remus asked, always the tactful one at the same time Sirius barked:

"What crawled up your arse?" Apparently over the summer, Sirius had learned some new choice swears from listening to his parents yell at him, and now he used them constantly. It was a bit shocking to hear such crude words come out of a thirteen year old boy's mouth, but Sirius always went against the grain.

"There's a new chaser this year," James grumbled, plopping down next to Remus on the sofa and kicking off his dirty trainers.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Peter asked, recalling the terrible House Cup match of last year against Slytherin, where the Gryffindor team had been crushed by 451 points.

"He's good," was James's blunt answer.

"And...?" Remus asked, "Isn't that good?"

"He's better than you isn't he?" Sirius asked knowingly, looking at the despair and rage on his friend's face.

"No!" James said hotly, then quickly corrected himself, "Well, he might be. I can't say for sure, but it's close, too close. And he's a year younger. A year! How did this kid get so good? I practiced everyday over the summer for this.'

"He probably did too," Remus conceded. "What's his name?"

"But I practiced harder!" James argued a fierce glaze in his eyes. "Shane something or other, he has two last names which I think is _stupid_!"

"_But_ who knows, mate. Maybe he's just brill at flying! Although he does sounds like a prat!" Sirius countered.

"I'm brill at flying! It's my life! I'm supposed to be the best flier, the best chaser, and then this kid comes in and almost outdoes me!"

"Isn't it good that he's better? Then the team will be even stronger, isn't that what you want?" Peter piped up. After contemplating James's angry expression for a moment he continued, "Not that he's necessarily better...beginners luck and all..." he trailed off as James let out a low growl.

"There's no need to get your pants in a twist, you'll just show him how it's done next time, the kids only twelve!" Sirius said nonchalantly, dismissing the subject with a wave of his hand. "Anyways, there are more important things to discuss."

"Are there?" Remus questioned.

'Hey! Don't trivialize this it's—" James started but was cut off by a raised eyebrow from Sirius as if to say "now is it really?" James sighed, but gave in anyways. "What's so important then?"

"Birds." Sirius said simply, leaning back on the sofa a smirk playing across his lips.

"And?" Peter prompted.

"They exist?" James offered.

"They're in the room!" Remus joked.

"They have long hair," Peter said, joining in on the joke.

"They wear frilly clothes."

"They have high voices."

"They flutter their eyelashes when they want attention."

Sirius rolled his eyes but continued with whatever his point was.

"Yes they exist, and yes they are here, the other things are irrelevant," Sirius said offhandedly.

"Care to elaborate?" James asked, not liking being kept in the dark with whatever Sirius had in mind.

"They like us," Sirius said simply, as if that explained it all.

The three other boys looked around the common room to find at least five blushing faces look away.

"And we like them!" Peter said in a way that showed he still didn't understand what Sirius was getting at.

Sirius sighed and shook his head. "Do I need to write everything out for you dunces? They like us, we like them, we're thirteen, and we are the most popular guys in our year. We could get any girl we wanted—if we wanted," Sirius added quickly as he saw the looks on his friends faces.

"Why would we want them?" Peter asked.

"Because it's cool to have girls!" James nearly shouted, finally catching on to everything Sirius was saying. "If we get girls, then that will just boost our cool rating off the charts. We'll be the first guys in our year to ask out a girl, a pretty girl of course."

"That's unkind, James," Remus scolded, looking extremely uncertain about this new plan.

"People aren't going to like us any more if we snog ugly birds," Sirius said.

"I thought our thing was pranking?" Peter asked, honestly confused by this new Get Birds Plan that Sirius had concocted.

"It is pranking, but imagine how jealous everyone would be of us if we got girls too!" James explained. "We'll still prank, obviously we're never going to stop doing that! We'll just find girls who like us and you know, want to snog or something," James said cheekily.

"Sweet Merlin!" Peter squeaked at the idea, while Remus shook his head disbelievingly at the shallowness of his friends.

Not that he didn't want to find a girl who liked him. It was nothing like that, he was a guy after all. It was just that sometimes he questioned the motives of some of the things his friends did. For instance James teasing Lily. He hadn't relented yet, and it didn't seem he was going to in the near future, but Remus couldn't understand why. Lily was so nice, even to people she didn't know, and this year she had even started tutoring a first year in Charms. Remus couldn't understand why James liked so much to pick on someone who didn't deserve it.

Remus looked up at his still mud-covered friend. For a moment he thought that James was staring back at him, mouth slightly agape, but as he zoned in on James's line of vision he saw that James was looking somewhere behind his left shoulder.

Remus twisted slowly in his seat, looking to the corner of the common room where Lily Evans sat with her two best friends, Mary MacDonald and Emma Pernell. Her head was bent over a book, and her fingers were skittering across a piece of parchment. Unlike Mary who was measuring her parchment every time she wrote a sentence to see if it had reached the allotted length yet, Lily was concentrating so hard that Remus wouldn't have been surprised if she had written more than necessary.

"Remus, James, what are you looking at?" Sirius questioned, looking at his two friends strangely.

Remus turned back around and answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "Whatever James is looking at."

"Lily," James said shortly, snapping out of his semi-daze and closing his previously open mouth. "She's being such a dork," James recovered as the three Marauders gave him weird looks.

Peter and Sirius accepted James's excuse but Remus wasn't convinced.

"Anyways, I have a challenge of sorts!" Sirius said, excitement seeping into his voice.

"Alright," James perked up, "I'm up for whatever it is!"

"Me too," Remus said, surprising himself with how much he actually did want to do whatever crazy thing Sirius had concocted now.

"I'm in," Peter added too.

"So..." Sirius began deviously, "our very first Hogsmeade visit is coming up. Whoever can get a girl to go with them first wins."

"That seems too easy," James said, knowing that Sirius never liked easy challenges.

"Well, they have to be in Gryffindor, any age, but you have to pick who you think is the most fit—"

"Really?" Remus asked, shaking his head.

"I wasn't finished!" Sirius huffed. "And you have to decide now, because you only have one shot at this, with one girl. So look around and decide now because whoever you say you're going to ask is the only person you can ask. If you bring someone other than the one originally decided on, then you are disqualified from the competition."

"Fair enough!" James agreed wholeheartedly.

"I'll do it!" Peter said excitedly.

"Remus?" Sirius asked.

"Me too," Remus agreed with a shrug and a grin, "should be fun, right?"

"Absolutely! So I'll go first, since it was my idea after all," Sirius decided, looking around the room with a comical expression and squinted eyes, as if that helped him scout out the lookers in the bunch. "Dorothy Ferguson."

"The fifth year?" Remus asked, extremely surprised.

"Fine choice, mate, but do you really think you can get her to go to Hogsmeade with you?" James asked doubtfully, yet with a bit of an edge to show that he was challenging Sirius extra.

"Don't doubt my powers!" Sirius said in mock rage, clutching his chest in an "as if!" manner. "But go on, who's your pick, James?"

"Lily."

"Evans?" Peter sputtered disbelievingly.

"I'd imagine so," Remus said, as he pointed to James, who was yet again staring at Lily, but this time with a smirk and a calculating grin.

"You can do better," Sirius said but deemed Lily worthy and moved on, "and you Peter? I've seen you look at Melissa Saunders."

"She's a year above us!" Peter gasped.

"So? You can get her!" James said reassuringly, clapping Peter on the back. "Remus? Have you decided yet?"

"I'm not sure...Emma, Lily's friend, seems nice."

"Yuck!" Sirius gagged. "She's like James's sister!"

"No it's fine, I think Emma is a fine choice, Remus," James allowed, bestowing what could only be called his blessing on Remus.

"Well that's sorted then! We all have a bird to ask, and a challenge to win. Good luck comrades, you'll need it seeing as you're competing against me!" With that final word, Sirius got up from his seat and stretched his recently tall body and walked over to where the fifth year girls were sitting around a table.

"You don't think she'll say yes now do you?" Peter asked worriedly.

"Don't worry, Pete. Sirius isn't going to ask her yet, just butter her up. It's a good tactic, we should all applaud him," James said as his best friend looked up from his spot between Dorothy and one of her friends and gave a subtle thumbs up.

"He's a smooth one," Remus chuckled.

"He has that advantage already!" Peter huffed.

"It's a fair competition—it's all about timing," James informed the two other remaining Marauders.

The three of them continued discussing tactics until they realized that they hadn't done any of their schoolwork and all scrambled to get their essays and homework questions done.

**()()()**

"Lils how are you doing it?" Mary whined as she looked down at Lily's pincushion which had tripled in size.

They were sitting at the front of the Charms classroom with Emma, practicing the new charm that Professor Flitwick had taught that day: engorgio. Only five minutes into the class, Lily had mastered the charm and was trying to teach it to Mary.

"No no, see there when you turn it? You're doing a long swoop when really it's supposed to be a sharp twist, like this," Lily demonstrated for the fifth time and her pincushion swelled once more.

"You make it sound so easy!" Mary growled, face growing red and grip on her wand getting tighter.

"Aha! I got it!" Emma squealed, pointing at her pincushion that had grown rapidly but then shriveled up to a smaller size than before. She frowned at the small red ball, but rather than getting frustrated like Mary, she just continued trying, taking Lily's advice.

"I give up!" Mary cried dramatically. "Can't you just do it for me, Lily?"

"And what would you gain from that?"

"A fat pincushion?" Mary offered with a weak smile.

"I refuse!" Lily said, turning her nose up in mock pride.

"C'mon Lils...you know you want to..." Mary wheedled, waving the pincushion underneath Lily's nose like it was a tasty treat that Lily was refusing to accept.

"Evans would never do anyone's schoolwork, she's too much of a stickler for the rules," James piped up from the desk behind the three of them.

Lily twisted around in her seat and shot James an exasperated look.

"What's the problem with wanting to help someone rather than doing the work for them?" Lily asked stiffly.

"Doing it for them would be helping! They get out of the schoolwork, you get the extra practice that you don't need but obviously love, and everyone wins!"

"Yes and that's cheating, nobody learns by cheating."

"Says you, I've learned plenty that way!"

"You're just trying to get me riled up, too bad I'm not falling for it today. Bye Potter, focus on your own work and not others."

Lily turned around quickly and returned to helping Mary, who was now the only one out of the three who hadn't managed to do the charm. Emma was sitting and staring proudly at her enlarged pincushion when a little piece of parchment landed next to her left hand. She turned around to find James motioning for the parchment to be given to Lily. Emma looked at it unconvinced, but decided it was best for Lily to deal with it and handed it off.

Lily unwrapped the folded parchment and stared down at the four words scrawled across the paper.

_Go out with me?_

Her eyes widened at the ludicrous sentence and she nearly burst out laughing at the absurdity of it. Without looking she tossed the note over her shoulder and back onto James's desk, not even dignifying the joke with a response.

She heard James mumble something to Sirius who was sitting next to him, but whatever insult he had muttered had been drowned out by Mary's excited squeal of:

"Aha you little bugger! I got it!"

**()()()**

"James, there's only a week left until the Hogsmeade trip, you better start working some magic on Evans," Sirius said as they sat in the back of Potions on the Monday before the Hogsmeade visit.

"It's not like you've asked Dorothy yet."

"Yes but I have her wrapped around my finger, it'll be easy, she's basically waiting for me to ask her."

"Is she really? Because I'm pretty sure I heard that she's going to Hogsmeade with some guy in her year," Remus interjected, openly laughing at the shocked look on Sirius's face.

"You're lying! Where did you hear that?"

"From everyone! It's big news, apparently they've liked each other for quite some time now, everyone knew about it," Remus explained smugly.

"You knew about this the whole time didn't you? You cheeky bugger!" Sirius nearly shouted, attacking Remus with his potions textbook.

"Girls! Girls! You're both pretty," James joked, as Remus and Sirius continued their petty, pathetic fight.

They stopped abruptly as Slughorn continued his rounds in the classroom, reaching their back table and pausing briefly to frown at their half finished potions and then continue on to exclaim (to nobody's surprise) that "Lily, m'dear, that is the finest potion I have ever seen! Please fill a vial for me and leave it on my desk!"

"Oi, Evans!" James half-yelled across the classroom, just loud enough for Lily to hear and turn around, but not loud enough for Slughorn, who had continued on his wanderings around the classroom, to hear.

"What?" Lily asked, exchanging an eye roll with Mary at James's antics, which had recently become much more centered on her.

Since the first time he had asked her out a week ago, he had proceeded to ask her to Hogsmeade every day since, not even taking a break on Sunday. Today he had already asked her during first period Transfiguration, so she wasn't expecting another across the room call for attention from him. Even so she anticipated the next four words that exited his mouth.

"Go out with me?"

She shook her head, half exasperated and half annoyed at the joke that was growing old rapidly.

"No, James, I won't go to Hogsmeade with you and no I won't change my mind in the days leading up to our Hogsmeade visit, and no I will never go out with you, no matter what you do," Lily had officially rendered James speechless as she answered the questions that were still hanging in his mouth before he could even ask them.

"Not like anyone else is asking..." James mumbled to himself. Unfortunately, he didn't know that Mary had creepily good hearing and that she could pick up on a whisper from across the room.

"Excuse me James Potter, but who in Merlin's name do you think you are? Do you really think you can get away with making fun of my friend? No. You're wrong! Stay away from her and take back what you just said! There doesn't seem to be any girls flocking to your side so lay off. Got it?"

James looked taken aback but at least had the decency to look slightly ashamed, however, it was mostly because he had been called out for what he had said, not because he had said it in the first place.

"Looks like you aren't going to win our little challenge," Sirius whispered from next to James.

"Well neither are you!" James shot back.

Sirius shrugged, clearly not caring. But James was different. He wasn't going to give up that easily. He'd extend the deadline if he had to, but whatever happened he would get Lily Evans to agree to go on a date with him. Whatever the cost and however long it took. James Potter was not a loser, and he wasn't about to have Lily Evans make him become one.

**()()()**

**A/N~Alright I know I said that each year until about the sixth one were only going to be one chapter but this chapter was getting rather long and I feel like the third year is an important year developmentally so I'm going to do a part two for third year.**

**Basically part two will consist of James bothering Lily more and the Marauders confronting Remus about his "mysterious absences once a month". Fun fun fun!**

**Please please please review! They mean the** **world to me!**


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